Lenovo T61s...which one to choose?

[Paladin2]

My T40 with 14.1 SXGA+ TFT died a GPU death recently.

I am familiar with the T60 at work. How does the T61 compare in terms of build quality, screen quality and noise from fan and HD?

On the Lenovo outlet they have T61s with:

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T8300
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (128MB Open GL)
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

versus

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9300
nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

MY requirements are web, photography, videos, Second Life, some games, development.

Which of the two machines would you pick and why?

Disk and memory are easily upgraded.

I'd appreciate the suggestions from the community as I am not familiar with the T61 but I know I don't want a T400 because of the lower resolution screen. I looked at a T61 widescreen 1280×800 and found it lacking compared to my old SXGA+ display.

Thank you.

[RaysMD]

I'd go for the faster processor. I don't think the workstation class video card in the T61p is necessarily better for you purposes. Do you know what kind of LCD comes with each machine? HD, RAM?

[Paladin2]

I'd go for the faster processor. I don't think the workstation class video card in the T61p is necessarily better for you purposes. Do you know what kind of LCD comes with each machine? HD, RAM?

4GB and 160 GB 7200rpm for the T9300

1GB (WinXP) and 160 GB 7200rpm for the T7800

Both are 14.1 SXGA+ TFT. Was Flexview a possibility on 14.1 T61s?

Thanks.

[basketb]

There are no 14" IPS Thinkpad screens. The 15" T60p was the last one to offer IPS (if I'm not mistaken).

[basketb]

I am familiar with the T60 at work. How does the T61 compare in terms of build quality, screen quality and noise from fan and HD?

I've a 14" T60p for work and a 15" T61p for pleasure. In terms of built quality they are very similar (i.e., very good), similarly for screen quality (i.e., OK, but not as good as an IPS screen) and HD noise (since they both have the same HD model). The big difference is that the T61p's CPU and GPU run much cooler than the T60p's GPU and thus the fan doesn't come on that often and therefore, the T61p is quieter.

On the Lenovo outlet they have T61s with:

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T8300
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (128MB Open GL)
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

versus

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9300
nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

MY requirements are web, photography, videos, Second Life, some games, development.

Which of the two machines would you pick and why?

I'd go with the cheaper one (either CPU will handle what you want to do) and put the money saved towards a good external monitor, if you are serious about photography.

[Paladin2]

I am familiar with the T60 at work. How does the T61 compare in terms of build quality, screen quality and noise from fan and HD?

I've a 14" T60p for work and a 15" T61p for pleasure. In terms of built quality they are very similar (i.e., very good), similarly for screen quality (i.e., OK, but not as good as an IPS screen) and HD noise (since they both have the same HD model). The big difference is that the T61p's CPU and GPU run much cooler than the T60p's GPU and thus the fan doesn't come on that often and therefore, the T61p is quieter.

On the Lenovo outlet they have T61s with:

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T8300
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (128MB Open GL)
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

versus

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9300
nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
14.1 SXGA+ TFT

MY requirements are web, photography, videos, Second Life, some games, development.

Which of the two machines would you pick and why?

I'd go with the cheaper one (either CPU will handle what you want to do) and put the money saved towards a good external monitor, if you are serious about photography.

That's good to know that the T61p (hopefully T61 also) runs quieter. I notice the T60 fan noise at home in a quiet room.

Since you use the p versions what benefits do you find with the Quadro FX 570M?

Thanks.

[Paladin2]

I've a 14" T60p for work and a 15" T61p for pleasure. In terms of built quality they are very similar (i.e., very good), similarly for screen quality (i.e., OK, but not as good as an IPS screen) and HD noise (since they both have the same HD model). The big difference is that the T61p's CPU and GPU run much cooler than the T60p's GPU and thus the fan doesn't come on that often and therefore, the T61p is quieter.
I'd go with the cheaper one (either CPU will handle what you want to do) and put the money saved towards a good external monitor, if you are serious about photography.

That's good to know that the T61p (hopefully T61 also) runs quieter. I notice the T60 fan noise at home in a quiet room.

Since you use the p versions what benefits do you find with the Quadro FX 570M?

Thanks.

The cost difference is $100. The main trade off is the Quadro vs NVS GPU.

[basketb]

...Since you use the p versions what benefits do you find with the Quadro FX 570M?

Thanks.

Personally I could care less about the GPU (i.e., I do not derive a direct benefit from it (at least not yet)). For all my uses, an integrated GPU would be fine I guess. All I wanted in the T61 was a WUXGA screen (and that only came with the T61p and FX570M. The work T60p was assigned to me and I didn't have a say in its features .
In the future, I hope that it will allow me to decode Blu-Ray movies (when Blu-Ray drives and disks become cheap(er)) and maybe even produce HD quality home movies.

[RaysMD]

I'd go with the 9300 cpu, since it comes with more RAM and a nice hard drive.